bio in a nutshell

.... and outside the nutshell﻿

i was born in new york city.. and grew up in switzerland and south africa. later i lived in asia for several years and then in various countries in europe. my parents were great travellers and took me along to wherever they went - it was important to them to introduce me to different countries and cultures. when there, they would visit museums and galleries with me, i admit nothing i enjoyed too much, yet of course that too had an impact on me. we were a multi-lingual little family, before i started going to school i spoke english (my mother tongue), french and italian, once at school i learned my swiss regional dialect, german.. and later a few more languages.. alltogether 8. before going to sleep in the evenings, my mother, father or my grandmother would tell me fairytales.. a world of magic.. which i loved.. could get lost in .. my mother was very much into roman and greek history and mythology, so i also got a "dose" of that - my father contributed russian folklore and tales, my grandmother told me french children's stories and fables by la fontaine. my childhood was .. pure magic. art was always something i loved doing and the best presents for me were paper, pencils, crayons etc. the more the better. i had a huge big old cake tin filled to the brim with color pencils... THAT was my treasure. but then i wanted to go to the art academy in our town and my parents said no. learn a proper profession i was told. i was heartbroken but what to do.. so i started a commercial career. then got married, my children were born and art disappeared more and more from my life, until it was gone. and then, my world was turned upside down. i had a very serious car accident, spent several months in hospital and could not work for 2 years after that. slowly i glided into a state of depression. i had been a multi-tasker, used to doing 100 things all at once.. and suddenly that was no longer possible, and my ex-husband wasn't much of a help either. i looked for help and found a therapist, a brilliant woman, warm-hearted and compassionate.. and she suggested i should paint my feelings, my emotions.. and that is how art found me again. amongst other things i started to paint mandalas, for friends.. at first. a mandala to me is the portrait of a person's energy, and people would ask me to interpret what i had painted. which i did, and they were amazed at the accuracy of my mandalas. later, i started painting for others too, and eventually i started giving lessons in mandala painting and meditation at a big school for adults. my course was very successfull and i loved it. at the same time i took up studying process oriented psychology, aromatherapy, classic massage, energy massage, jin shin do and i became a body & mind worker. then there was another big change in my life and painting mandalas faded into the background. there were other priorities for the moment.. however what i did discover was digital art. i was totally fascinated by it... i was in a online learning group where we were given step-by-step instructions how to use our graphic program - paintshop pro 8 it was at the time - but i soon got bored with those and wanted to experiment with my own ideas. which i did but which did not go down well with that group. too bad.......... ! so i was completely fixated on digital art until i joined facebook. and there i met a wonderful friend, a great artist from the usa, and my name-twin and moon-sister.. we both have the same first name.. she encouraged me to take up traditional art again. i was very reluctant in the beginning, not having a proper training i felt inferior to those who had studied art. but my friend took care of that, she kept on encouraging me, helping me by answering all sorts of questions and gently pushing me on! THANKS PAT ! now, also traditional art is back in my life.. ! photography is another facette of my art personality. and i see now that slowly there is a bit of a style emerging... i love abstract art and that i create in all 3 media. but i also love art brut, outsider art, expressionism, wild and raw, i am not interested in creating "nice" paintings .. but straightforward and emotional ones. i love mixed-media and collages ... my digital art is more geometric, but there too i vary, going into fantasy, even dark and goth art.. and my photography is mostly monochrome, no colors to distract, just the plain facts in black and white. but being me, i might completely change my concept again. I sometimes wonder at my great diversity of style and subject choices. Along with my many different media of creating, I explore many concepts in my artwork. But that is part of my journey- wild and chaotic, creative expression as a mean of celebrating this wonderful time I enjoy on this earth. and as an afterthought:didn't i say my concept may change again? well yes.. it has.. a bit. i always created dark art..... not of the blood and gore type. that is not my style. i like it subtle, not obvious, let "it" creep up on you, sneak a peak over your shoulder, give you a slight shiver down the spine ... THAT is my style.. and i feel that this is coming back to me more and more. definitely in the photography and digital art side of me.. now i would also like to follow along this track in my traditional art. ah! a new adventure ! oh and another friend was at the back of this decision... or at least helped me along to make it. my friend blair in australia, the one who created that awesome page for me.. the one you see when you hit that button next to my image on top of this page! have you done so yet? no.. ? then please go and check it out! thanks !